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Not this time: Boston Red Sox prompt Michael Pineda ejection, ride John Lackey to 5-1 win over New York Yankees

4:23 pineda 2.jpg

Home plate umpire Gerry Davis ejects New York Yankees starting pitcher Michael Pineda after a foreign substance was discovered on his neck in the second inning of the Yankees' baseball game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston, Wednesday, April 23, 2014. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

BOSTON -- Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell came out of the Fenway Park dugout before Grady Sizemore could finish his second-inning at-bat.

The television broadcast cameras focused in on Michael Pineda's neck and the brown substance was as clear as can be. Farrell said he saw it from the dugout.

Pine tar, again?

Pineda allowed two runs in the first inning. His neck was clean. In the second, Farrell noticed the stick stuff and popped out to tell umpire Gerry Davis. Davis approached Pineda, investigated and then tossed the New York Yankees starting pitcher.

Pineda gone, the Yankees asked David Phelps to warm quickly. The Red Sox struck for two more off Phelps in the third inning, then sat back and watched as John Lackey fired a dominating performance on the way to a 5-1 win.

"It looked from the dugout that there was a substance on his neck," Farrell said. "You could see it. I could see it from the dugout. It was confirmed by a number of camera angles in the ballpark. And given the last time we faced him, I felt like it was a necessity to say something.

"You know, I fully respect on a cold night you’re trying to get a little bit of a grip, but when it’s that obvious, something has got to be said."

Davis, who touched the substance on Pineda's neck before ejecting him, said definitively, "it was pine tar."

Pineda admitted the same thing to reporters in the Yankees' clubhouse, saying "In the first inning I could not feel the ball and I didnt want to hit anybody so I put it on ... I learned from this mistake and it won't happen again."

On April 10, Pineda appeared to have a foreign substance on his arm. By the time Farrell noticed in the fifth inning, it was gone. The Red Sox never complained, but later said they wished Pineda was more discreet.

There was nothing discreet about what he did on Wednesday. He hardly looked surprised, only disappointed as Davis signaled that he was out of the game upon immediately discovering the brown substance caked on his neck.

The Yankees admitted they were at fault, too. Somebody should have noticed. Manager Joe Girardi and pitching coach Larry Rothschild talked to Pineda after the April 10 start, but didn't think he fully understood the consequences.

Yankees' general manager Brian Cashman wasn't happy.

"He’s responsible for his actions, but we failed as an organization for somehow him being in that position," Cashman told reporters. "I don’t know how, none of us right now, we’re scratching our head right now, how that took place.”

The Red Sox were just as astonished.

"I've never seen anything like that, a guy ejected for using a substance," said catcher A.J. Pierzynski. "It's one of those things that, we all know everyone does it. Look, I'm all for it. But you just can't do it that blatantly. That’s it. Everyone has something. Catchers have pine tar in their shinguards all the time. It's not a big deal. But as long as it's not blatant, you're just putting it out there.

"It's tough. I know John didn’t want to go out there. It was tough for him, it puts him in a bad spot. At some point, the rules are the rules and you’ve got to do what you can."

With Pineda ejected and Phelps on the mound, things got weirder in the third inning, when Mike Napoli hit a blooper down the right field line that bounced in the dirt and then disappeared. Left fielder Brett Gardner started running toward the warning track, searching for a baseball, it was later revealed, that had bounced off a fan's face and landed in the stands. Napoli ran all the way home, but was sent back to second for a ground-rule double. One run scored on the play and another on a subsequent wild pitch.

Then it was The Lackey Show.

After throwing back-to-back forgettable starts in which he allowed 20 hits and 12 earned runs over 11 combined innings, Lackey settled in from the first pitch and never looked back, striking out a season-high 11 batters. His 100th pitch ended the seventh inning, but he charged back out to complete the eighth, needing 111 pitches in all.

Lackey allowed just a single run on seven hits and one walk, lowering his ERA from 5.25 to 4.22.

The biggest adjustment for Lackey: Mixing his pitches and creating separation between his two-seamer, four-seamer, cutter and curveball. The speeds and appearances of his cutter and cure ball had previously been to similar, allowing hitters a 50/50 chance to guess fastball or breaking ball.

"We had a good mix going," Lackey said. "It wasn't like I was throwing just one pitch for a strike. I was able to kind of mix it up a little bit, and that helps."

Napoli was 3-for-4 to continue his hot start to the season in which he's hitting .309.

"Mike Napoli is at a good place right now offensively," Farrell said.

Brock Holt, called up last Friday from Triple-A Pawtucket, reached base three times. He's hitting .400 with a .458 on-base percentage through six games.

"More than anything, we took the lead early, which hasn’t been done on a consistent basis," Farrell said. "We were able to do it tonight and then put it in the hands of John. He carried us through eight very good innings tonight."